American Scientist

When we face disasters—whether they are catastrophic storms or slowly accumulating mounds of pollution—they can feel overwhelming, and it can be difficult to think of anything an individual can do to have a positive effect on the problem. We may feel stressed, or saddened, but it can be tough to move past our everyday concerns and take a cold look at how human actions over the span of lifetimes might be at the root of the problems.

Several articles in this issue challenge us to step forward and own up. Their purpose is not to instill guilt in the reader, but to encourage us to have tough conversations, so that we can move toward concrete solutions that involve and empower everyone.

In Robert Chianese’s Perspective column, “Climate-Disturbed Landscape,” the author discusses the wildfires and mudslides that occurred in California almost a year ago and describes how the landscape has reacted since those disasters. Will such “natural” calamities be the “new normal” for California? Chianese hopes that eco art might be one way to get people to take ownership rather than looking away from the problems.

In this issue’s Science Communication column, “Trashing the Tanks,” Sam Muka argues that aquariums are doing visitors a disservice by showing only pristine marine ecosystems, which don’t provide a realistic view of how plastic pollution is damaging those environments. Muka argues that a more accurate depiction could be used to educate visitors and give them tools with which to enact change.

And in Technologue, Carol Barford finds that critical internet infrastructure could be at risk from rising sea levels over the next few decades. She stresses that addressing this issue will be expensive and will require much planning. We have to start working on it soon, she says, or disruption might hit before changes are made.

Elsewhere in this issue are articles that look back into conservation history, and ahead into species adapting to a changing climate. In “Collecting Evolution,” Matthew J. James describes a 1906 collection expedition to the Galápagos Islands. Although the collectors took a number of animals from the Islands to preserve as museum specimens, their actions were in response to the wanton destruction of these species, which they feared would be completely lost to science. Their efforts clash with current conservation ethics, but James views their actions in the context of the period in which they occurred. And in “America’s Cat Is on the Comeback,” Michelle LaRue looks at how citizen science is helping to track cougars as they move back toward the eastern United States, and she describes how those animals and humans are learning to live in close proximity.

Whatever issue we focus on, it’s hard to escape the impression that our world may be changing faster than we expected. Instead of avoiding this distressing reality, let’s find ways to work together to face it.—Fenella Saunders (@FenellaSaunders)